Christie M. Fuller

Decision support for determining veracity via linguistic-based cues

Deception detection is an essential skill in careers such as law enforcement and must be accomplished accurately. However, humans are not very competent at determining veracity without aid. This study examined automated text-based deception detection which attempts to overcome the shortcomings of previous credibility assessment methods. A real-world, high-stakes sample of statements was collected and analyzed. Several different sets of linguistic-based cues were used as inputs for classification models. Overall accuracy rates of up to 74% were achieved, suggesting that automated deception detection systems can be an invaluable tool for those who must assess the credibility of text.

Marker Variable Choice, Reporting, and Interpretation in the Detection of Common Method Variance: A Review and Demonstration

This article investigates in two ways the use and reporting of marker variables to detect common method variance (CMV) in organizational research. First, a review of 398 empirical articles and 41 unpublished dissertations that employ marker variables indicates that authors are not reporting adequate information regarding marker variable choice and use, are choosing inappropriate marker variables, and are possibly making errors in their assessment of CMV effects. Second, two data sets are presented that investigate the properties of six prospective markers to assess the degree to which they capture specific, measurable causes of CMV and the conclusions these markers produce when applied to substantive relationships. Results from the review and empirical investigation are used to expand the set of conditions scholars should consider when determining whether to employ a marker technique over other alternatives for detecting and controlling CMV and how best to do so.

An Examination of Deception in Virtual Teams: Effects of Deception on Task Performance, Mutuality, and Trust

Research Problem: This study investigates the impact of deception on the performance of tasks in virtual teams. While the advantages of virtual teams in organizations have been well-studied, as the use of these teams expands, organizations must acknowledge the potential for negative consequences of team member actions. Research Questions: (1) How does deceptive communication influence the outcomes of virtual group collaboration? and (2) How does perceived deception impact the individual perceptions, such as perceived trustworthiness and mutuality, of the virtual team itself? Literature Review: Based on (1), the conclusion from the literature on virtual teams that trust and mutuality are vital toward team development, (2) the propositions put forth by Interpersonal Deception Theory that deception will be perceived by team members, and (3) from the conclusion from the literature on interpersonal deception and trust that deception will impact outcomes of an interaction, including trust, mutuality, and ultimately team performance, we developed a model of the impact of deception on outcomes in virtual teams. This model suggests that deceptive communication negatively impacts task performance. Deceptive communication is also expected to impact perceived deception both within and between groups. The model further proposes that perceived deception will negatively impact both perceived trustworthiness and mutuality. Methodology: Through an experiment, virtual teams of three members participated in a group decision-making task in which team members must cooperate to search a grid for enemy camps and then collaborate on a strike plan, with half the teams populated by a deceptive team member. Two-hundred seventeen subjects were recruited from courses at three universities. Five experimental sessions were conducted across two semesters in computer labs at the three universities. Following the virtual team experiment, subjects completed surveys related to key constructs. Analysis of variance and linear regression were used to test the hypotheses. Results and Discussion: Deception has a negative impact on task performance by virtual teams. Participants perceived deception when it was present. Perceived deception led to decreased mutuality and trust among team members. These findings suggest that organizations that utilize virtual teams must be aware of and prepared to deal with negative behaviors, such as deception. The generalizability of these findings is potentially limited by the use of student subjects in a laboratory setting. Future research may extend these findings by incorporating additional variables that have been found to be important to virtual team outcomes or studying the current model in a longitudinal design.

An investigation of data and text mining methods for real world deception detection

Uncovering lies (or deception) is of critical importance to many including law enforcement and security personnel. Though these people may try to use many different tactics to discover deception, previous research tells us that this cannot be accomplished successfully without aid. This manuscript reports on the promising results of a research study where data and text mining methods along with a sample of real-world data from a high-stakes situation is used to detect deception. At the end, the information fusion based classification models produced better than 74% classification accuracy on the holdout sample using a 10-fold cross validation methodology. Nonetheless, artificial neural networks and decision trees produced accuracy rates of 73.46% and 71.60% respectively. However, due to the high stakes associated with these types of decisions, the extra effort of combining the models to achieve higher accuracy is well warranted.

The Impact of Ability and Participation on Trustworthiness and Task Performance in Virtual Teams

The relationship between trust and task performance in virtual teams is well established. Currently, studies examine key antecedent to trust in groups, the perceived ability of other group members. While it has been shown that perceived ability of teammates contributes to trust, little is known about how the perceptions of ability are formed in virtual teams. In this study, teams performed a decision-making task in a synchronous computer-mediated communication environment. As teams were limited to verbal communication, the authors examined the relationship between participant ability and verbal communication amount, as well as team member perceptions of their partners’ ability based on the amount of participation. The results show that participants who perceive themselves to have higher ability communicate more, whereas those who speak more are rated by their teammates to have lower ability. Based on the results, post hoc analysis explored the relationship between reduced participation and perceived ability.

Real-World Deception and the Impact of Severity

Previous research has shown that language varies between deceivers and truth tellers. These linguistic differences serve as the foundation to automated text-based deception detection methods. However, few studies have analyzed linguistic cues to deception in real-world environments. Here, we present an analysis of linguistic cues to deception in person-of-interest statements recorded following crimes on a military base. Using automated cue extraction and MANOVA, the analysis indicates that quantity, diversity, nonimmediacy, and cognitive processing cues differ between truthful and deceptive statements. Additionally, this study introduces an exploratory measure of incident severity used to analyze how language changes in both deceivers and truth tellers as situational severity increases.